UPDATE: See the Wurzeltod post: A Mid-November's Dance of Death in which the inimitable Suzanne puts some personal flesh on the bones of 'Bilder des Todes oder Todtentanz für alle Stände' by Carl Merkel & Johann Gottfried Flegel.

David, do you mean overlooked within this post here?? At the bottom you'll see I've left a whole bunch of links as I've covered this territory in some depth previously.

To quote myself (which I didn't really want to do in this entry because it's all laid out in many, many sites):

::::"The Dance of Death or 'Le Danse Macabre' or 'Totentanz' or 'la Danza de la Muerte' was an artistic response across Europe to the devastation brought about by the plague or black death.

Although the origins are obscure, the idea of death visiting households without regard for social or economic status arose as a cultural phenomenon by way of dramatic plays. {Dante and Petrarch are mentioned as possible examples} The inevitablity of death was a reminder to be prepared by living a pious life: 'Memento Mori' -- 'Remember You Will Die'."::::

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After writing the above it occurred to me that you meant that the choice of images for this post weren't reflective of the origins? Is that what you're getting at? Because the only reason I bothered to cover this topic again was because the imagery was different to the traditional Holbein (et al) originals (mostly). I like that this genre has traversed centuries and countries and has been morphed into wildly different manifestations that might merely nod in reference to their antecedents.